On February 18th, 2022, Professor Jennifer Firestone welcomed back five Lit Studies alums—Jaye Elizabeth Elijah, Hilina Da Costa Gomez, Shulokhana Khan, Colin Marston, and... Read More
by Elaine Savory — Emeritus Professor of Literary Studies Two former Literary Studies students—Alexa Roccanova and Chrisila Maida—contributed to Wide Sargasso Sea at 50... Read More
by Elaine Savory — Emeritus Professor of Literary Studies
Two former Literary Studies students—Alexa Roccanova and Chrisila Maida—contributed to Wide Sargasso Sea at 50 (Palgrave Macmillan 2020), a collection of essays assembled by Elaine Savory and Erica Johnson on Jean Rhys’s famous novel. To celebrate the novel’s half-century birthday, Lit Studies at Lang held a symposium in 2016 to celebrate, one of several around the world that year, involving major Rhys scholars and creative writers.
After studying the text in Professor Savory’s class, Alexa Roccanova chose the novel as inspiration for her Parsons fashion capstone. Impressed with the quality of her work, Elaine invited her to talk to the symposium about how she understood the novel and translated it into design. The resulting talk engaged visiting academics and the whole audience greatly, and resulted in an essay for the collection: “Infamous Daughters: A Capsule Collection Inspired by Wide Sargasso Sea”. In it, Roccanova sets out the steps by which she developed the designs. She says her work began with “a visual interpretation and evolved into a response to the perception of mental illness in women.” (2020: 29).
Uncannily, just as Erica and Elaine were beginning to plan the collection, developed out of the symposium, Chrisila Maida sent Elaine the present of a superb cover design for Wide Sargasso Sea, which had haunted her since they had studied it in class. It just seemed destined for the collection. In an interview on how the novel inspired her design, Chrisila tells Elaine: “I always feel a book designer is in service to the stories…I felt the book already chose this palette for me” and “The back cover is a fascinating platform to hide small secrets of the novel that will only be recognized once the novel has been closed.” (2020: 27).
Unfortunately, due to Covid, we were unable to host an in-person gathering to celebrate these two remarkable alumni and the book itself at The New School. But that should not stop us from being very proud of two remarkable women who studied in our own department and their very fine work.
October 10, 2019
Ann Snitow May 9, 1943-August 10, 2019 Ann Snitow, a founding faculty member of Lang College and the creator of the Gender Studies Program at the New School, passed away on August 10, 2019. She was a beloved member of the Literary Studies faculty. While indeed her books and essays are crucial texts in feminist studies and in the life of the mind, as Literary Studies colleagues our remembrances here are more personal, testaments not just to her work but to the power of her being.
November 8, 2016
“Often when we think of the kinds of landscapes that poets physically traverse and turn their minds to, we think not of the city but of the countryside. The conception of walking as a pastoral pastime to stimulate one’s creativity comes in large part from the legendary rural rambling of the Romantic poets: William Wordsworth wandering lonely as a cloud and Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s week-long solo walking tour of the Cumbrian mountains. […]
On February 18th, 2022, Professor Jennifer Firestone welcomed back five Lit Studies alums—Jaye Elizabeth Elijah, Hilina Da Costa Gomez, Shulokhana Khan, Colin Marston, and Jasveen Kaur S.—to share their thoughts on life after college and the creative ways that their Literary Studies degrees propelled them onto their current personal and professional paths.
You can watch the entire video here or read the transcript here.
Their paths have all differed greatly, ranging from publishing to journalism school, from an MFA in Poetry and to work in Film Production. They all agree that the breadth and interdisciplinary focus of classes offered by Lang’s Literary Studies department were incredibly formative.
The panelists gave concrete, practical advice on what to look for when applying to jobs and internships, without sugar-coating the reality of the creative job market.
Overall, the panelists helped set clear, honest expectations of life after college: it’s hard and competitive. But the tools they acquired from their many experiences in Lit Studies and The New School at large have helped them remain flexible and creative in their pursuits.
